Something Just Like This
by Deadly Beauty
Summary: After seeing a strange woman kiss Krillin at one of Bulma's many parties, 18 realizes that it's time for her to take her relationship with Krillin to the next level, but when she confronts him with the news, Krillin doubts weather he is good enough for 18, and it is up to her to convince him otherwise.


A/N: Hello, hello! This little diddy was inspired by the song of the same title, 'Something Just Like This' by The Chain-smokers and Chris Martin. It's a super catchy song that has been stuck in my head, screaming at me to write this story. It's a little -not-quite-get-together and I hope you like it. It was fun to write, so let me know what you think!

 **...**

 **Something Just Like This**

 **...**

Capsule Corp was the space of a million changing faces. Krillin swore every time he came here, it was an entirely different place. Tonight, it looked nothing like the high tech company it touted itself as during the daylight hours. Music thumped all around him, muffling the sounds of people chatting and laughing as the free-flowing booze ate away at their inhibitions.

Bulma was throwing yet another party for… reasons. Krillin had no idea what the occasion was, but the alcohol was free and provided a welcome distraction from the thoughts that seemed to cycle endlessly through his head these days. Not to mention that facing the wrath of Bulma if you snubbed an invitation from her was not even close to worth the bother.

It was a warm night. The summer air was sticky and Krillin was regretting wearing jeans instead of his usual shorts. He finished his beer and discarded the empty bottle on the ground beside him. Slowly, his eyes scanned the crowd, searching for a familiar face. It didn't take long for him to find one. Yamcha. Pushing his way through the crowd, with a gaggle of young girls following behind him.

They made eye contact and Yamcha waved and broke into a jog. Krillin stood up from the grassy hill he had been perched on, and met his friend halfway across the party.

"Bro!" Yamcha clapped his hand against Krillin's back. "How the hell have you been, my man?" he asked, but kept right on talking before Krillin had a chance to reply.

"This is Candii," Yamcha kissed the cheek of the brunette on his left arm. "And this is Monique" he repeated the gesture with the red head to his right. "Girls, this is my best mate, Krillin."

Krillin smiled and nodded at each of them. "Nice to meet you both," he said and grabbed two fresh beers from a passing waiter. Handing one to Yamcha, he asked, "What have you been up to? It's been a while."

The group forced awkward small talk as best as they were able to over the music. It seemed to be getting louder with each song that was played. When the topic of conversation eventually drifted, as it always did, to old times the girls unsurprisingly quickly lost interest. Monique twirled her fingers lazily through Yamcha's hair. Candii leaned in and whispered something into his ear. She nibbled on his earlobe as she pulled away, and Krillin tried desperately to look anywhere but at the uncomfortable PDA unfolding in front of him.

The blush that instantly rushed up Yamcha's cheeks gave Krillin a pretty good idea of what Candii had suggested they go and do next, and Yamcha, being the slightly inebriated ladies' man that he was, was hardly going to turn down such an offer. "You coming, man?" he asked as Candii started to pull him through the crowd.

Krillin laughed and took a very long sip from his beer. "I'm fine here dude." He shook his head. "You go do… whatever it is you're about to do. I really don't want to know." They had already disappeared by the time Krillin had finished his sentence, but Monique lingered for a second longer.

"That's too bad," she said, and ran her index finger from the waistband of Krillin's jeans, up over his stomach and chest and finally across his lips. "We could have some really great fun together, the four of us."

"Thanks for the offer." Krillin took a step backwards, putting a large, totally obvious gap between himself and this bizarre situation. "I'm flattered really, but I'm uh…" he paused. What was he, exactly? "It's complicated," he eventually settled for.

"Well I don't do complicated," Monique flipped her long red hair over her shoulder. She leaned in and kissed Krillin on the cheek before he was able to do anything to stop it. "Come and find us if you're interested in something simple. It will be fun, I promise," she said before melting away into the mess of bodies on the dance floor.

 **...**

"Remind me why you're throwing this party again?" 18 asked. Her chin was resting lazily in her palm, where she sat with Bulma, propped up at the bar.

Bulma skulled something pink from her sugar rimmed cocktail glass before replying. "We're supporting a local homelessness charity," she said, and motioned to the bartended for another drink. "And it's a tax write-off" she quickly added before distracting 18 by ordering a round of shots for everyone who happened to be hovering nearby the bar.

Never one to back down from a challenge, 18 took her shot and swallowed it in one brave gulp. "Blech," she scrunched her face up. "What the fuck was that? Petrol?"

"Oh lighten up," Bulma laughed and playfully punched 18 in the arm. "It's vodka. Is Krillin here?" she asked. The alcohol was already starting to swim through her veins.

18 craned her neck to look over the sea of people, not that she'd have any chance of spotting his short ass in that crowd. "I dunno?" she shrugged her shoulders. "I assume so, if you invited him."

"What?!" Bulma seemed shocked. "You didn't come together? You mean he still hasn't made his move?" she slammed her glass down on the bar, and placed her hands on her hips. This was her boss mode. And nobody messed with Bulma when she was in her boss mode. "I'm going to go and find that boy and knock his lights out!"

18 rolled her eyes. Everyone in this ragtag group of 'friends' she had managed to cobble together was such a baby. "Don't do that," she pleaded, hoping that Bulma was still sober enough to reason with.

Bulma scoffed, all but ignoring 18's request. "We're friends 18," she said, and smiled. "And even if we weren't, we're women, and us women need to stick together and look out for each other."

"I don't really need…." 18 trailed off when it became clear that Bulma wasn't listening to a word she said. She waved the bartender down and grabbed herself a fresh beer, stuffed a lemon wedge down its neck, and returned her chin to its former resting place in her palm. She sighed loudly, but Bulma either didn't hear her, or, and this was much more likely, was actively choosing to ignore her.

It still sounded strange to hear Bulma say they were friends, but as time ticked past, 18 was forced to admit that that was indeed what they appeared to be. It was Bulma of all people, who had reached out to 18 after the whole Cell fiasco had died down just over a year ago. She'd invented some sort of contraption to find both herself and her brother, and had sought them out herself, showing up out of the blue one day to whatever hole in the ground 18 had been living in at the time. The initial driving factor behind their meeting had been Bulma's insatiable scientific curiosity, but after 18 had made it violently clear that she was never, ever going to step foot into any kind of a lab ever again, Bulma's regular curiosity had kicked in and the rest was more or less history. She was full on, but 18 could tell that she was a decent enough person. Her taste in men was a total disaster, but that was another issue entirely.

"There he is!" Bulma proclaimed.

And then there was Krillin. 18 knew he'd had a crush on her since before he even really knew her. She didn't have the faintest idea why, however. It hadn't taken long for Bulma to decide to play matchmaker between her two friends, which went just about as well as anyone could have expected. Krillin was a bumbling idiot. She hid her insecurities behind a veil of aloofness – it was awful for everyone involved.

But after that horrendous first encounter, there was a second, and then a third and slowly, Krillin got over his nerves, and she got over her need to be a total bitch to everyone and some sort of an actual friendship started to grow. Now it was starting to evolve into something else. Something more.

"What's he doing?" 18 asked without looking up from her drink

"Talking to Yamcha and two unidentified floozies." Bulma had made a pair of binoculars with her hands and was glaring through them with too much concentration to be joking.

Floozies? 18 came to stand beside Bulma, where she was able to pick Krillin out from the crowd. Sure enough, there he was, talking to Yumcha and the two unidentified women, who were most definitely floozies. She crossed her arms over her chest and watched the interaction unfold, from here, she could have eaves-dropped on the conversation if she wanted, but 18 respected Krillin more than that.

"Ohmygosh, what's she doing?!" Bulma shrieked, and adjusted her fake binoculars. "18, she's touching him!" Bulma was in a complete tizzy. "Wha… what's she doing? She KISSED him!"

18 took a deep breath. This was about to get ugly. "Bulma, wait!" 18 grabbed hold of Bulma's arm, stopping her from going down there and sorting Krillin out herself. She'd probably beat the shit out of him, and he would have let her, too. Krillin would never in a million years hit a girl. Especially a girl whom Vegeta was borderline psychotically protective of.

"Just stop." Bulma turned back to look at 18 with her big, sad eyes, and 18 realised she'd been excited to go and start something. Maybe that's how they'd managed to become friends. This was neither the time, nor the place for a fight though. "I'll go and talk to him, okay."

"Fine," Bulma pouted and plonked herself back down at the bar.

 **...**

"Hey."

Krillin's eyes shot up. That voice was unmistakable, it filled his dreams every night. "Oh, hey," he motioned for 18 to sit down beside him on the lawn, trying to play it cool. "I didn't know you'd be here. You look nice." It was true, she was wearing a pair of black shorts and a flowy yellow top, and she always looked divine in yellow.

Taking up his offer, 18 settled in beside Krillin on the grass. They sat in awkward silence for a minute, watching everyone thrashing around on the dancefloor. "I saw that, you know."

Krillin's whole body tensed up. 18 didn't have to explain herself any further. "It wasn't what it looked like, honestly."

"Bulma was about to come down here and kill you. I just save your life."

"Well I guess that makes us even then."

"What?" 18 asked.

"I stomped on that remote, you stopped Bulma from ripping my head off. You can go about your life with a clean conscious now. No need to waste all your time hanging around with me anymore waiting for the opportunity to pay me back."

There it was, that self depreciated humour that Krillin always seemed to hide behind. It was ridiculous and a little bit insulting. "What did that woman want?" 18 chose to ignore the ridiculous statement.

"Heh." Reclining back onto his palms, Krillin shook his head. "An orgy I think," he laughed as 18's face twisted into a look of shocked horror. "I know, I was surprised to say the least."

"What did you say?"

"Well I'm still sitting here, aren't I? Does that really sound like something I'd do?"

It didn't. Krillin was nothing if not a gentleman, and floozies weren't his type. And she was sure that that would be more of Yamcha than he would ever want to see. "Do you really think I only spend time with you out of obligation?" the words were out of 18's mouth before she even had a chance to consider them.

A tidal wave of nausea rolled through Krillin's stomach. Nerves bubbled up inside of him. Important conversations were so not his strong suit. "I mean…" he started ripping blades of grass from the ground, avoiding eye contact. "Yeah, kinda. No, that makes you seem cold and that's not what I mean." Krillin was rambling now. "Just… why would someone like you be interested in someone like me?"

Was he serious? They had well and truly progressed past 'just friends' by now, to what Oolong described as 'friends-with-benefits', and Krillin was throwing out this crap? "Why the hell are you making this so difficult?" 18 glared at Krillin until he couldn't stand the feeling of her eyes boring into him any longer and he finally turned to face her.

"Making what difficult?" he asked, sheepishly.

"Everything!" 18's exasperation was evident in her voice. Was he really going to make her spell this out to him? "We spend almost all of our time together, you dumbass. We have sex and then I hang around and make you breakfast!" Maybe it was the four or nine beers she had had speaking, but 18 was feeling bolder than usual tonight, and she was putting her foot down about where this quasi-relationship was headed once and for all. "I watched that woman kiss you and I felt so jealous. I've never felt like that before. It confirmed what I've been thinking for a while now…" 18 trailed off, hoping that Krillin would take the bait.

"What've you been thinking?" he asked, completely missing the hint.

"That I want to be the only one who gets to kiss you. You don't care about the fucking mess that is my past, and you make me not care about it so much either. I'm happy when I'm with you, and that's honestly not something I ever thought I'd feel. I don't just want to be your friend anymore Krillin. I want us to be more than that."

Krillin opened his mouth, but no words came out. He um'd and ah'd, stumbling around trying to find something to say before seeming to just give up. He exhaled and his shoulders slumped. There was no way around it. "Don't be silly," he mumbled. "I'm not good enough for you, 18"

That was not the reaction 18 had been expecting. She was shocked and hurt to say the least. She stood up and began to walk away, trying to hide her silent fury. It didn't work. She got maybe 10 steps, before she whipped back around and unleashed on poor, unsuspecting Krillin. "What gives you the right to go around deciding what is and isn't 'good enough' for me?" she asked, air-quoting for emphasis. "I'm going to walk away now, and I'm going to give you five minutes to think about why that is so god-damn insulting, and when I get back, you'd better have something better than that to say." Her tone of voice was scathing and left no room for arguments.

Krillin could only watch in confused awe as 18 stomped away across the party, and only one thought looped through his head. Had he just rejected the love of his life?

 **...**

True to her word, five minutes later, 18 was back. "Here," she said, and thrust an icy cold beer towards Krillin. She sat down and watched him skull almost the entire bottle in one enormous gulp.

The sun had set now, and most people had migrated to the dance floor. Krillin and 18 could feel the bass shaking the ground underneath them from where they sat on the grassy slope. Above them, a million fairy lights begun to sparkle, and if you squinted your eyes just right, they almost looked like the stars that lit up the night sky above Kame Island. Bulma really went all out for these things.

"I'm sorry, about what I said," Krillin got the ball rolling. 18 seemed to accept his apology, because she didn't immediately punch him in the face, so he pushed on. "It's just… these last few months have been awesome. Like, so, so great, I've been happier than I've been in, I don't know… ever."

He stopped and waited for 18 to say something, but she obviously hadn't heard what she wanted to hear yet, and stayed silent, forcing him to continue.

"Like I said, it's been great. Having you around the island has been awesome, getting to know you is amazing. Everything seems so perfect at the moment. I'm scared if we become official I'll ruin it…"

"How could you possibly ruin it?" 18 asked. "It's not like anything would really change. I'm not asking to marry you, or move in or anything. This arrangement was never going to last forever anyway. Either we move forward, or it stops altogether. I like what we've got, and I don't really want it to stop, so it seems the only real option we have is moving forward."

"Well, when you put it like that…" Krillin drifted off into thought mid-sentence. "Doesn't it bother you that I'm not rich, tall and handsome?"

"I think you're handsome," 18 said, with a cheeky smirk. "And no, I don't care that you're not rich or tall," she continued. "Look, you know I'm not good at all this emotional stuff. And I'm probably butchering this whole thing, but I hope I haven't been so off the mark this entire time that you honestly don't know how I feel about you?"

"No!" Krillin blurted out, wanting to squash 18's insecurities before they had a chance to take off. "No, that's not it at all. Believe me, this has nothing whatsoever to do with you."

"I kinda feel like it has everything to do with me."

"Well, okay," Krillin laughed. "Yeah. But my insecurities are my own. They have nothing to do with you, I promise. You should know that I come with a lot of baggage, and that I'm not always going to be someone who's easy to love. I'm not trying to dissuade you from doing this or anything, quite the opposite in fact. I just want to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into with me."

"Hmmm," 18 thought about how best to proceed. "Well, Krillin, I appreciate your concern, but I can assure you that I'm a big girl and fully capable of making my own decision. And right now, I'm choosing you. If I change my mind in the future I'll be sure to let you know."

"Alright then." Krillin let himself lay back on the grass. Without a word, 18 lay down beside him, and rested her head on his chest. Krillin wrapped his arm around 18's shoulder and kissed the top of her head. They had lay like this a hundred times before, but this time, with the bass thumping through their bodies like a heartbeat, it felt different. A new beginning.

"So, you're my girlfriend now, hey?" Krillin mused, gazing up at the twinkling fairy lights.

"Yep. And you're my boyfriend." 18 replied. She'd had a fair bit to drink and her world was starting to spin a little, but Krillin's warm body was like an anchor, keeping her still and safe, and that was all she had ever wanted. It was funny, nothing had really changed tonight, and yet all of a sudden, everything felt completely different. For the first time in her life, 18 was excited to find out what her future held, and she knew that if it was going to be anything like this moment right now, it was going to be great.

 **...**

The End.

A/N: There you go! Hope you liked it, please leave a review if you did! If you want to follow my writing adventures, visit me on tumblr, the link to my blog can be found at the top of my profile page. I love talking DBZ and K18 there and am always taking your K18 requests, prompts and headcanons.

See you all soon,

Big Love  
D.B


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